


Traffic Lights

by piecesofalice



Category: In Plain Sight, Life
Genre: Crossover, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-18
Updated: 2009-12-18
Packaged: 2017-10-04 12:52:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/piecesofalice/pseuds/piecesofalice





	Traffic Lights

Her father hated the way he touched her leg under the table, so she not-so-secretly loved it. Her mother loved the affectionate way he smiled into her neck, so she swatted him away and tried not to think how, in any other world, this holiday would be easy.

  
Their two families combined for a Christmas fraught with mixed religions, but a tree stood in the way of the Californian sun and the presents were given freely and lovingly. Kisses on cheeks and compliments for food, these two families from separate branches of law enforcement should have made her feel comfortable, but instead, Dani sweated in her long-sleeved shirt and felt the ring burning a hole in her pocket.

  
They announced their engagement over the clatter of matched china plates against silver forks, his hands on her waist and her head barely up to his chest.

  
Their mothers cried with matching happiness and her father's smile didn't reach his eyes. Marshall's hand just got tighter around her middle and she felt something like strength, especially when the man he considered his greatest hero kissed her like a daughter and told her she was welcome.

  
The talk turned to a June wedding, when they'd both graduated from their respective academies, but Dani and Marshall tried to think of nothing but each other as they sat under the Christmas tree and exchanged a kiss under a gold-covered angel holding a trumpet.

  
\---

  
Months later, she faced him while he drew circles on her spine with his fingers, and wondered how she could ever say goodbye to this person who made her feel so conflicted and so happy at the same time.

  
"Albuquerque," she said against his mouth, and he nodded.

  
"New Mexico," he answered, and she kissed him so hard it made her eyes hurt from being squeezed together.

  
Months later, she watched him pack his pyjamas she'd bought him for his birthday, and burst out laughing at the ridiculousness of life.

  
\---

  
She wasn't stupid, she knew what he did. "Witness protection," she spat against the phone and the open line buzzed silence back at her. "Fine. Whatever. Call me," and she hung up the phone before sliding down the wall of her apartment that seemed even emptier than it had before she'd put down the phone.

  
"Vice?" was how it had started, one word out of his mouth that was caked in concern and she twisted the ring he'd given her under cotton sheets on a Sunday morning and tried not to punch the wall.

  
\---

  
When she fell, she kind of blamed him.

  
It was easier, especially when she hocked her ring for a lousy four hundred bucks and told him it was over in slurred words left on an answering machine.

  
\---

  
He visited her in hospital, in rehab, in the weeks after. His hair was longer, his middle thinner, his hands the same as they held hers and seemed to forgive her for infidelity, lies, torments and truth.

  
He spoke to her of Mary, his partner, of the strength of the people he dealt with and the colour of the New Mexico sunset. He told her how his father missed her and how his sisters asked after her weekly, and she loved him for protecting them from the bitch who'd fucked-up everything good and golden in their baby bro's life.

  
"Long distance never works, Dan," he smiled, but the spark he seemed to have just for her was gone.

  
\---

  
"Nice guy," Charlie said, solemnly, and she wondered how the hell this even came up.

  
"Whatever," was her response, and she marched back to the car, throwing her coffee cup away and hoping her partner didn't see the tears licking at the corners of her eyes.

  
\---

  
A televangelist sung out from her television as she took out the tiny gold angel and wondered, half-smiling, what song would come from it's trumpet if it could play for them now.

  
\---

  
_FIN._

  
\---


End file.
